Reporting from Perth

On my first morning in Perth, I roamed around Hag street. My mission was to get my first cup of jo before the tour and thought I’d get McDonald’s’ but no, Perth has plenty of coffee shops. I even saw a dripped coffee shop and it’s not even 8 AM yet.

I settled for Ivy and Jack, inside the Holiday Inn hotel, where I ended up staying for free the night before (again, a story for another time) as that’s where the tour guide would pick me up. The flat white was good, not Melbourne good, but good enough. And breakfast? Well, Melbourne can learn a thing or two from Perth; i.e. by replacing the usual teeth-breaking-hard-to-chew sourdough bread with the Perth version of softer bread.

The rest of my first day was filled with a trip to the Yanchep national park, lobster lunch, experiencing the wicked weather at the Pinnacles, and sand dune-ing. Yes, I finally did it! And no, I am not sharing my sorry ass attempts to slide down the sand dune with you.

In the evening, I came back to the town ready to have dinner with Che, but since she didn’t reply and I got completely drenched in the rain, I booked a room in the nearby hotel called Wentworth Plaza, which, from the four digits displayed proudly on the wall, revealed that it’s almost a century old.

I showered back in the hotel, put the PJs on, and watched a comedy show at Foxtel while dozing off. It was the mix of less than a couple of hours’ sleep on the night before and the tiredness from the full-on Perth itinerary earlier, I almost fell asleep when Che replied to my message, “I’ll pick you up in 15 mins”. I jumped out of the bed, embraced the cold, damp weather, and hopped inside the car.

She was the main reason for this Perth weekend!

Thus, we finally met again!

I told her that I got her an eraser from Melbourne; she said that she brought food for the homeless. Damn! Here I am, planning, applying for the permit, contemplating, and discussing what to do to help the homeless. Yet, I have never done anything. On the other hand, she was here for a couple of days and she has started to help them. I know why we are friends because this girl inspires me!

We had yogurt and bubble tea, ticking off things in our Perth Weekend/Friend Date list. We caught up about work, people at work, weird people at work, including Mawar, her new “BFF”. It was past midnight when she dropped me back at the hotel. And once again, I am back in the cold, shivering under the blanket because the hotel didn’t have a proper heating system. I cursed myself for choosing vintage over comfort. After a while and with the help of layered blankets, I fell asleep.

The next day I woke up and met Che again at her hotel cafe. We both ordered flat white, my first for the day, and her first ever. Around noon I bid her goodbye and made a promise to meet again soon.

After the delicious Japanese Bento lunch at Zinjo, I went to Fremantle. I visited the Fremantle port, Fremantle Prison, Fremantle market, and Fremantle seaside. By the time I ticked off my Perth itinerary and came back to the city it was almost 7 PM, which means everything was already closed. Thus officially ended my Perth weekend.

I decided to head back to the airport and chill here while waiting for my flight in 7 hours. Yes, 7 hours. Well, It was supposed to be 5 hours (the cheapest flight I could justify spending a weekend in Perth) but now it was also delayed for 2 hours. I counted the hours. I would be awake for more than 36 hours before I hit the bed again. I think it will die at work tomorrow*.

I will definitely come back to do another round of Perth weekend.

Or maybe for more than just a weekend in Perth. Next time I plan to visit the Margaret River and spend more time in Fremantle. There is a little shop called Blue Budha near the market, which I am really keen to visit. And next time, I will come with Fafa. Pretty sure the notion of spending the evening away sipping coffee, and later, wine, at Cappuccino street would easily convince him to tag along.

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